9 


5145 
B7 


UC-NRLF 


$B    SS    502 


(0 

cri 
o 

-J 
o 


-J 


X) 

o 


THE 


t) 


RADFORD     :iRAYER    ||oOK 


THE  BRADFORD  PRAYER  BOOK 

I  710. 


SOME     ACCOUNT 


"Ik  look  of  l^ommon  :]ni^t\," 


Printed   A.  D.    171  o, 


BY 


William    Bradford^ 

UNDER   THE   AUSPICES   OF 

TRINITY  CHURCH.  NEW  YORK. 


The   first   edition    of  that    book  ever   printed    on    the    American    Contir 


PRIVATELY    PRINTED    FOR 

HORATIO    GATES    JONES. 
1870. 


^7 


|fe  f  irat  Imerican  "loolt  of  |^oinmon  Brager." 

[From  the  Philadelphia  Evening  Bulletin,  July  15,  1870.] 

HE  LOVERS  of  early  and  rare  Ameri- 
can books,  and  especially  such  of  them 
as  belong  to  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  have  recently  had  a  gratifica- 
tion by  the  discovery  of  a  copy  of  the 
first  edition  of  the\"  Book  of  Common 
Prayer"  ever  printed  on  this  continent. 
The  fact  that  an  edition  of  the  volume  had  been 
printed  by  William  Bradford,  the  first  printer  of  the 
Middle  States  and  an  early  vestryman  of  Trinity 
Church,  New  York,  somewhere  between  the  years 
1704  and  17 14  was  noted  by  Mr.  John  William 
Wallace  in  his  admirable  address  before  the  Histori- 
cal Society  of  New  York,  on  the  occasion  of  the 
bicentenary  celebration  of  Bradford's  birth,  in  New 
York,  on  the  20th  of  May,  1863,  by  Trinity  Church 
and  the  Historical  Society  just  named.  But  the 
evidence  of  the  publication  rested  wholly  on  early 
records  of  Trinity  Church  which   Mr.  Wallace  had 


Ml946il 


The  First  American 


been  allowed  to  inspect.  No  copy  of  the  book  could 
then  be  found  in  New  York,  nor  was  there  any  evi- 
dence that  any  had  ever  been  seen,  and  Mr.  Wallace, 
in  his  printed  address,  stated  that  he  was  quite 
unable  to  say  whether  or  not  "any  copy  of  this 
Editio  princeps  Americana  of  a  book  which  now 
covers  the  continent  in  numberless  forms,  has 
survived  its  century  and  sixty  years."  In  fact, 
numerous  persons  doubted  whether  at  that  early 
day  the  book  had  ever  actually  appeared.  But 
behold!  in  1870  a  copy  turns  up  in  Philadelphia! 
Mr.  John  Jordan,  Jr.,  an  indefatigable  and  very 
liberal  member  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Penn- 
sylvania, getting  certain  intimations,  discovers  in  some 
old  library  the  precious  volume,  which,  as  names 
in  it  show,  belonged  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago 
to  some  of  the  parishioners  of  Christ  Church,  in 
this  city.  Of  so  curious  a  volume — one  which 
stands  at  the  head  of  the  immense  line  of  issue  of 
"Prayer  Books"  which  has  since  been  proceeding 
from  the  American  press — every  particular  will 
prove  interesting  to  bibliographers  and  ecclesiolo- 
gists  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  we  have  pro- 
cured from  Mr.  Horatio  Gates  Jones,  well  known 
for  his  interest  in  our  early  literature,  a  correspond- 
ence    between     himself     and      Mr.       Wallace,     the 


Book  of  Common  Prayer. 


President  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania, 
to  which  the  Bradford  Prayer  Book  now  belongs. 
The  correspondence,  we  have  no  doubt,  will  prove 
a  valuable  record. 

The  North  American  and  United  States 
Gazette,  speaking  of  this  volume,  justly  says  that 
''the  early  date  at  which  this  book  was  printed 
— 1 710,  and  the  fact  that  the  English  Book  of 
Common  Prayer  was  never,  so  far  as  we  know, 
printed  on  this  continent  during  the  colonial  term 
afterward,  speaks  highly  of  Bradford's  enterprise." 

The  correspondence  referred  to,   is  as   follows: 

Roxborough^  Philadelphia^  July  9,    1870. 
Hon.  John  William    Wallace, 

President  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsyl'vania. 

Dear  Sir: 

Numerous  inquiries  have  been  made  about  "the 
first  Prayer  Book"  which  Mr.  Jordan  recently  gave 
to  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania.  Some 
notices  of  it  have  appeared  in  the  New  York  papers, 
where  the  book  was  sent  for  exhibition,  but  I  do 
not  know  how  accurate  they  are.  I  see  that  you 
presided  at  the  last  meeting  of  our  Society,  when 
the  donation  of  the  book  was  made.  I  shall  be 
much  obliged,  if  your  leisure  allows,  if  you  would 
write    something    that    I    can    use    as    a    record    of 


The  First  American 


that  precious  volume,  bibliologically  and  typograph- 
ically alike. 

I  well  remember  that  when  the  Bradford  Prayer 
Book  was  spoken  of  by  yourself  in  your  address 
at  the  splendid  celebration  in  New  York  a  few 
years  since,  when  Trinity  Church  erected  a  new 
monument  to  William  Bradford,  the  first  printer 
of  the  Middle  States,  many  of  the  New  York 
bibliophiles  argued  that  the  absence  of  any  such 
volume  from  the  library  of  the  opulent  "Bradford 
Club "  was  a  very  strong  evidence  that  no  copy 
could  have  ever  been  actually  issued  by  Mr.  Brad- 
ford, although  it  was  admitted  that  a  publication 
of  the  volume  by  him  had  been  contemplated  in 
very  early  times.  I  dislike  to  disturb  you  in 
your  occupations,  but  a  brief  description  of  this 
book  will  prove  of  great  satisfaction  to  many 
who    are    interested    in    the    early    literature    of  our 

country. 

I  am  yours  most   truly, 

HORATIO    GATES  JONES. 

728  Spruce  St.,  Philadelphia,  July  12,  1870. 
My  Dear  Sir:  ^ 

The  Prayer  Book  about  which  you  inquire  is  a 
copy   of   the  identical    Prayer    Book   of    which    the 


Book  of  Common  Prayer. 


origin  is  to  be  found  in  an  early  record  of  Trinity 
Church,   New  York,  as  follows : 

"August    23,  1704. 

"  Ordered    that    the    Church   Wardens    to    lend    Mr.  Bradford 

£30    or    £40    for    six    months,     on    security,     without  interest, 
for    purchasing    paper    to    print    Comon    Prayer     Books." 

And  for  the  return  of  which  money  the  Rev. 
John  Sharpe,  D.D.,  Chaplain  of  the  Queen's  forces 
at  the  Fort,  and,  as  such,  an  assistant  minister  of 
Trinity  Church,  became  Bradford's  security.  The 
book  is  a  small  quarto,  "Printed  and  sold  by 
William  Bradford,  in  New  York,  in  17 10,"  an 
exact  reprint  of  the  English  *'Book  of  Common 
Prayer  (of  1661)  and  Administration  of  tne  Sacra- 
ments and  other  Rites  and  Ceremonies  of  the 
Church,  according  to  the  use  of  the  Church  of 
England ;  together  with  the  Psalter,  or  Psalms  of 
David.  Pointed  as  they  are  to  be  sung  or  said  in 
churches."  Facing  the  title  page  are  the  royal 
arms  of  Great  Britain,  and  following  it,  prefatory 
to  the  body  of  the  book,  are  twenty-three  pages, 
containing  "  Rules  for  the  more  devout  behaviour 
in  the  time  of  divine  service  in  the  Church  of 
England ;  with  some  explanations  of  the  Common 
Prayer."     The    volume    contains   the  (then)    *^  New 


8  The  First  American 

version  of  the  Psalms  of  David,  fitted  to  the 
tunes  used  in  churches,  by  N.  Tate  and  N. 
Brady."  There  is  nothing  special  to  note  in  the 
matter  of  the  book,  which  is  the  exact  English 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  &c.,  of  Charles  II.'s 
day. 

'Typographically^  different  parts  of  the  volume  have 
different  characteristics.  The  Prayer  Book  part 
has  obviously  been  printed  at  a  different  time 
from  the  part  having  the  "  new  version  of  the 
Psalms."  This  is  obvious  from  the  fact  that  in 
the  Prayer  Book  part  continuous  subjects  are  in 
letter  of  two  different  sizes;  one  part  in  small  pica 
and  the  rest  in  bourgeois.  The  Offertory  appears 
in  this  way,  and  so  sometimes  does  the  same 
Psalm,  all  showing  plainly  enough  that  the  founts 
were  small  when  this  part  was  printed.  The 
whole  of  the  *'new  version  of  the  Psalms,"  on  the 
other  hand,  is  in  one  letter — small  pica ;  and  small 
pica,  I  should  say,  of  a  somewhat  different  face 
from  that  used  in  the  body  of  the  book — more 
round,  showing  that  when  this  part  was  printed 
the  founts  had  been  increased.  The  paging  of  this 
part  begins,  too,  anew,  making  seventy-nine  pages 
of  its  own  ;  and  the  paper  of  this  part  is  different 
from   that   in    the    Prayer   Book  part ;   made  out  of 


Book  of  Common  Prayer. 


better  rags,  finer  and  more  tough ;  sized  also,  and, 
I  should  say,  of  less  weight.  Whether  or  not 
Bradford  ever  printed  the  Prayer  Book  with  the 
old  metre  Psalms  I  can  not  determine,  but  I  think 
it  plain  that  he  printed  this  ''new  version"  of  the 
Psalms,  as  Tate  &  Brady's  was  then  called,  after  the 
other  part  of  the  book  was  done,  and  in  a  volume 
or  tract  by  itself;  doing  this  doubtless  for  the  use 
of  persons  who  had  old  editions  of  the  Prayer 
Book  alone,  and  in  which  nothing  but  the  old 
versions  of  the  Psalms  were  contained.  His  Chris- 
tianity, in  this  respect,  was  greater  than  his  craft, 
and  it  is  not  surprising  that  he  lost  money  by  his 
benevolent  course,  although  Trinity  Church  made 
the  loss  lighter  to  him  by  generously  condoning 
his  debt  to  them.  The  book  looks  at  first,  to  a 
person  accustomed  to  the  type  of  this  day,  as 
though  it  was  leaded.  But  by  looking  at  words 
where  long  letters,  such  as  /  and  y  ox  I  come  near 
each  other  on  two  lines,  their  ends  are  so  near  to 
touching  that  you  discover  that  what  gives  the  im- 
pression of  the  leading  is  due  to  the  type  having 
been  cast  with  a  long  shoulder.  The  composition 
in  the  main  is  fair,  though  the  division  of  the 
words  is  sometimes  peculiar — different  at  least  from 
what    we    make    in   this  day,   when  we  should  space 


I  o    First  American  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 

out  and  drive  the  syllables  into  a  new  line.  The 
press-work  is  very  creditable;  the  color,  even;  in 
some  parts  first-rate,  though  there  are  occasional 
light  places.  The  calendar,  in  the  beginning  of 
the  book,  has  some  of  the  peculiarities  universal 
in  all  ''rule  and  figure  work"  of  that  day.  It  is 
made  up  with  short  rule;  making,  of  course,  such 
work  as  now  would  be  supposed  to  be  made  up 
with  "odds  and  ends"  of  rule.  In  some  places 
the  rules  lie  low  and  are  scarcely  seen.  In  this 
part  of  the  volume,  also,  the  type  seems  worn, 
and  the  balls  were  apparently  hard.  The  ink,  at 
least,  is  imperfectly  distributed.  The  main  part  of 
the  book  is  much  better.  Altogether,  considering 
the  early  day  when  the  work  was  done,  it  was 
a  great  one ;  and  comparing  it  with  publications, 
long  subsequent  but  still  early,  the  Prayer  Book 
of  17  lo  must  be  called  very  creditable  to  the 
typographer's  art  in  the  colonies. 

I   am,  with  great  regard. 

Most  respectfully  yours, 

JOHN    WILLIAM    WALLACE. 

Horatio   Gates  Jones,   Esq. 


M194611 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


